Put on a Happy Face

Apparently, eating a wiener is one of the funniest things Trevan's experienced in all his 14 months!

Weekend news

My dad's younger brother and only sibling (in MT) has been struggling with complications from diabetes the last several years and took a turn for the worse last Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, Trevan was coming down with what we thought was just a boogery cold, then after waking from his afternoon nap, we noticed he was a bit wheezy. Pauline and Mac went to grab some take out, and Trevan continued to get worse, and a bit panicky for air, so I loaded him up and took him to emergency. Pauline and Mac joined us there, but since Mac was kind of freaked by the noise and look of Trevan's nebulizer, I ended up leaving Pauline with Trevan at the hospital and took Mac home. Luckily, Trevan's O2 levels came back up so that he was released later that night. He is doing much better, but still has a way to go... gets tired pretty fast.


We were going to join my brother and his family for weekend camping at Millersylvania State Park, south of Olympia. Instead, I took Mac down for the day on Friday and Pauline took him down on Saturday. He's becoming quite good at casting and reeling his own rod!



I was able to talk to my Uncle Glenn on Friday. We both chuckled at remembering my grandmother's dislike of our beards. He died on Saturday about noon. The service is on Wednesday of this week in Anaconda, MT, so I'm flying out tomorrow night and will come back early Thursday AM. My cousins asked me to help lead the informal memorial with a couple prayers and scripture.

Yesterday, Mac asked if it could be his turn to go camping, so I made a fire in our patio pit and we made s'mores with him. I also pitched the tent, and--in spite of the rain--he and I camped in the backyard last night. At one point the rain got pretty loud. I asked him if it was keeping him awake. He scooched his sleeping bag closer, hugged my arm and answered, "Yes, but I'm here to keep you company so you don't be scared."

Thank you, God, for coming to us in the shape of our children!

(Here's a pic from last night.)

Emerald Lake Painting

Below is my painting of the eastern ridges above Emerald Lake, to which we hiked and camped a week and half ago. I started it while there, and as I mentioned in a previous blog, anyone with a low-powered microscope would find plenty of gnat parts included in the texture! Oil paint takes a while to dry, so I made a lightweight but sturdy framework out of 4 pushpins, foamboard and a plastic document folder so that I could pack it out and get it home to Tacoma without smearing what I'd started.

links added

I finally added the promised links (the ones I could find) to my blog entry titled, "Book notes: A Sense of the Sacred, pt. 3 of 4."

Sabbatical, Day 80

Wow, what a great ribbon-cutting celebration last Sunday; beyond what I expected! It was good to see so many people. I am looking forward to getting back in the office, and looking forward to seeing whatever lies ahead of us!



Much of last week I was with my two older brothers, Kevin and Darryl, and my two godbrothers, Steve and Doug (also, Doug's dog, Nick) in the mountains north of Bozeman/Belgrade MT.
(above, right to left: Nick, Doug, me, Kevin, Steve, and Darryl.)

On Tuesday, Aug 12, we hiked up (way UP) and camped by Emerald Lake. (pic below)

It was loaded with grayling fish. Most of what we caught were 7-10 inches. Here's a picture of one my brother, Darryl, caught on a fly. Notice the large colorful dorsal fin which often comes up out of the water as you reel them in. If you're at your desktop, you should be able to click on any of these pics for a closer look.

In the picture below, you can see all the ripples as the greylings came up for insects. It's not a common fish (except in this lake) so we released them as we caught them.

I'm not a flyfisher, but I rigged one of Darryl's flies to my rod and managed to catch quite a few. Here's a picture of Darryl flyfishing; I found that it's hard to catch the line in action.

On Wednesday, we packed lunches and took a day trip to Heather Lake where Doug and I scrambled up the ridgelines.

From my view, you could see both Heather Lake and south bank of Emerald Lake behind. You might need to click on the pic or zoom in to see Emerald Lake. It looks like it's just over the rise, but they're about 2 miles apart.

Later, I joined Darryl in fishing for the cutthroat trout in Heather Lake. We could see them swimming in schools of 15 to 20 near the shore. Between us, we kept 4 that were about 10 inches and cooked them for dinner that night. They were very tasty.

There were a lot of beautiful wildflowers. Here's a few...


One of my favorites now is the lupine with its whorl of 10 pointed leaves. (There's a good Biblical number for you!) It's the first plant I took a picture of at the beginning of my sabbatical. That was the seacoast lupine which grows on the sandy coastline. This is probably the silky lupine. I also saw them in the Cascades where the blooms had already given over to its fuzzy pea-pods.

I started to paint some of the scenery by the campsite. In the pic below, I was not wearing a jacket for warmth, but to limit mosquito bites! After laying out the basic shapes, I let the paint dry in the sun while eating dinner and came back to find that about a hundred little gnats had kamikazed into the wet canvas! Rather than trying to scrape them all out and smear it, I left them in and packed it out. In fact, I finally finished the little painting earlier this afternoon. (I brushed the little tykes off a couple days ago).

Before we hiked out, Darryl and I had just enough time on Thursday to scramble up to the ridge and one of the snowbanks that I was painting.

In spite of the amazing number of mosquitoes and swarms of (non-biting) gnats, it was the best hiking trip I've had!

Paintings so far

I've been away from a computer for a couple of weeks, so have quite a bit of catching up to do. I will insert the images of my paintings (so far) here and where appropriate in previous blogs. All of these are from my week at the Grunewald Guild. Below, in the order painted: a coffee cup in the gray-scale, an image of a man, "Madame X" (a study of John Singer Sargent's original),Below is "starched shirt" (a study of a part of an original...also from Sargent, I think. I didn't actually know what I was painting at the time: our teacher suggested it would force us to paint what we saw, instead of what we thought it was), last is "Scotty" the groundskeeper and potter at Grunewald who posed for us...


Since then, I've been able to spend more time on each painting. At the guild, we really only had a couple hours on each. Most take a bit more time. I did a painting in Great Falls, MT from my mother's backyard, her goldfish pond with water features. She has that painting now, and when it's dry I'll ask her to scan and send the image to me.

I also started a painting at Emerald Lake in Montana while we were camped during our backpack trip. I will post that once I've had a chance to finish it.

Sabbatical, Day 66

I got back from the Grunewald Guild Sunday afternoon. Now, Pauline and I are packing up to leave for Great Falls, MT by Tuesday, late morning to visit both sets of parents, and next week I am going for a couple-day backpack trip in the mountains by Belgrade, MT with my two older brothers and my two godbrothers.

Book notes: A Sense of the Sacred, pt. 4 of 4

To finish, I'll list a few quotes of advice that Seasoltz offers churches in art and architecture.

"The best artists should be comissioned to appoint liturgical spaces...Like the architects, they must be willing to dialogue with their clients and should see their role as one of ministry in the community.
"Budgetary limitations should not necessarily determine what is to be built and appointed. A master plan should be created so that long-range projects can be envisioned. The great Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals were not built in a day; likewise, parish plans should be developed always with the future of the community in mind" (p. 271).

Among other points, Seasoltz says the "Rationale" must be clear:
"When a piece of art is commissioned for a church, both the commissioner and the artist need to know why the work is being comissioned. Is it because the pastor and the community want to enhance the liturgy and the setting for worship or because they want to inspire...the faithful by enriching the church environment? Or is the work being commissioned because a benefactor...wants to give money to the church for a particular project?

"Form and space. ...How will each and every aspect of the work fit into the whole liturgical or devotional context?

"Purpose and function. ...How will the work enhance the litugical worship of the community and promote the life and goals of the church? How will it encourage the community to be a eucharistic community? How will it facilitate the preaching of the word and the celebration of the sacraments? How will it promote the devotional life of the community in such a way that their devotional life is consonant with their liturgical life? How will the work challenge and rightly confront the community, which might be indifferent, lethargic...Unlike much of modern art, which often communicates a political message and functions as propoganda, art placed in our churches should be in keeping with the gospel" (pp. 341-342).


Well, that's enough history to suit me for a while! I wish I could hold in my head all the distinctions re: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and which artists and architects belong to what time period, and how this or that work typifies what... etc. Don't quiz me! But I do feel that I got a lot out of this read, anyway. I'm also glad to be finished!

Sabbatical, Day 63

Leaves

spilling,

Laughing green

from fingered branch.

Book notes, A Sense of the Sacred, pt. 3 of 4

I finished Seasoltz's book, A Sense of the Sacred, yesterday morning.

I enjoyed this little exchange from the early liturgical community movement in the early 19th C.:

"Through [Nikolai] Grundtvig's efforts, the eucharist once again became the regular form of worship in the Danish [Lutheran] church, celebrated twice every Sunday and on festivals. He successfully integrated the products of the folk arts and crafts into the worship of the people by incorporating their weavings and carvings into the worship space, and...included songs and dances. He also revived the liturgical year and wrote hymns for almost everyday of the church year. ...The hymns, however, were so new that they aroused opposition. ...Kierkegaard, for example, derided Grundtvig as 'a noisemaker who will be unpleasant to me even in eternity'" (pp. 198-199).

Some of Grundtvig's "noisy" hymns that we sing are "The Bells of Christmas," "Bright and Glorious Is the Sky," and "God's Word Is Our Great Heritage."

Seasoltz goes on to describe the more recent struggle of art and architecture. There were plenty of movements (i.e. the Arts and Crafts Movement), artists and architects that were at work, but the wars, eclecticism, and expense of quality work in light of mass production created a number of problems...

"Unfortunately the churches failed to make use of the most gifted exponents of the [Arts and Crafts] movement. ...Consequently church goods were regularly bought from church furnishing shops, which carried wares that were dull, pious, and inferior in quality" (p. 194).

"The decades immediately following World War II showed an ever increasing diversity in architectural styles...resulting in scattered parts often described as visual chaos...If any general architectural order existed, it usually consisted of the unimaginative, monotonous repetition of inarticulate components. At no period in human history up to that time was the human environment more problematic, nor had people felt more insecure in their relationship to themselves, one another, and their world" (p. 245).

"[This] generation of modern architects seeks a redefinition of architecture in terms of the complexity and contradictions of modern life...They agree that modernism died in the 1970s, but they certainly have not succeeded in putting any unified style in its place. The result has been what might be called architectural eclecticism, which often goes by the name postmodernism" (p.249).

Sooo... what's the solution?

"Much of the best in contemporary architecture does not concentrate its attention on fixed types or inflexible principles, but rather seeks to understand the total character of the project. The result is an architectural method rather than a style...A building is not a mere container housing functions; it is also an expressive presence that is dynamic in the environment. ...Buildings...have their roots in the past, relate to the present, and reach out to the future" (p. 250).

Throughout the book, Seasoltz illustrates the periods and his points with specific artists, architects, art works and buildings. I'll list a few from the 20th C., and add links as I find time.

Note in the art pieces, the frequent use of the artists' own environment...connecting the story and message to this place, or these people.

Saint James Cathedral in Seattle WA, esp. the font, altar and reading areas. (Seasoltz adds: "The renovation and renewal of this cathedral are eminently satisfactory" (p. 275). That's high praise coming from him.)

Annunciation Monastery, Bismarck ND

The library of Mount Angel Abbey, Saint Benedict, OR

He illustrates the frequent theme of loneliness and isolation in postmodern art (which is a frequent ache in contemporary life) with Roderick Barrett's painting, Players.

Religious concepts:

Georges Rouault (1871-1958) and his variations of Jesus as Suffering Servant in the Miserere series.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) a Russian-born Jew who frequently painted with Christian themes, i.e. His White Crucifixion and Yellow Crucifix, painted in the 30's and 40's. connecting the suffering of the Jesus with the suffering of Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

Frank Wesley's Christ with the Rich young Man.

John Perceval's Christ Dining in Young and Jackson's.

Margaret Preston's Australian pieces: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, The Expulsion, and Christ Turning Water into Wine.

Elizabeth Frink's Walking Madonna who strides from the church property back into the community.

That's more than enough. In the last of these four blogs on Seasoltz's book, I will mention some of the advice he offers to churches as they consider art for their congregations.

Sabbatical, Day 62

A group of have been meeting each morning for a short hike before breakfast. This morning (6AM) started out grey and overcast, but by the time we had our pre-walk coffee, the clouds broke open and as we overlooked the small valley, with a rainbow, lingering clouds and mist on mountainsides, the sun beaming down... thank you, God! Of course, this was the morning I left my camera in my room. Oh well, couldn't capture a moment like that except to treasure it.

I ventured off monochrome today using a pretty good imitation of John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" (click). (My imitation is from the shoulders up). It was pretty good until I started adding the color; ...should've left it in monochrome and started a new project. Oh, well, this is about learning. In the end, I wiped off the color, tried again, wiped it off again, and then tried to mend the monochrome.